And now for something completely different, and more fun.
I was wondering this morning what five to ten movies I would recommend to a young adult to explain to them what life is all about. I'm not talking about the best movies, the most important movies in film history, or even the most morally edifying movies. I'm talking about the movies whose lessons offer crucial insight into what it means to live a fully human life.
Here are ten that come to my mind right off. My list will probably change tomorrow. I look forward to seeing what you all have to say. Please offer a line or two explaining why you chose the films you did:
1. "The Bicycle Thief": A man who loves his family tries to do for them. Fate and society humiliate him in front of his son. The human condition, laid bare. This film is a call to mercy as a basic stance toward humanity.2. "The Godfather, Parts I and II": The corruption of Michael Corleone shows how good things -- family, faith, loyalty -- can be manipulated such that one feels compelled to choose evil for the sake of maintaining power. Plus, the moral nuances in the characters and the narrative awaken one to the ethical complexity and shadow side of human society, and its temptations.
3. "Schindler's List": Because the Holocaust, the most important event in modern history, happened, and happened in the most culturally and technologically advanced nation on earth, this film is a warning against hubris. And it also shows that even a bad man can become a hero, that redemption is always possible.
4. "It's a Wonderful Life": A sentimental favorite, yes, but it's hard to beat the lesson that the meaning of a man's life is measured by his willingness to be of service to others before self.
5. "Big Night"/"Babette's Feast" (double feature): These films teach about the sacramental nature of life, and how love and passion is conveyed through food. And "Big Night" is especially moving in its life lesson about how the value of doing a thing lies in the thing well done, not in its instrumentality.
6: "The Mission": Sometimes a man has to be prepared to die in defiance of authority for the sake of conscience -- and there is more than one way to sacrifice for your beliefs.
7. "Moonstruck": Life is a comic opera. Love conquers all. Italians are the Chosen People. Brooklyn is paradise. There are no great moral lessons in this film, but to be seduced by it is to give yourself over to a generous and sustaining vision of life.
8. "Crimes and Misdemeanors": Absent belief in the existence of God, and what it implies for ultimate justice, life is about doing whatever you like, as long as you don't get caught and can rationalize your guilt. This is a parable about the dangers of nihilism.
9. "High Noon": The mob can be counted on to be cowards, usually. Be brave, be true to what you know is right, and to hell with the rest.
10. "12 Angry Men": Resist passion, apply reason. Emotions can badly mislead.
These aren't my favorite 10 films, though there is some overlap. What about you? OK, you don't have to name 10. But you do have to give a short explanation for why you chose the ones you did.
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On the ethnic-urban thread, put "In America" by Jim Sheridan next to "The Commitments," because the Irish identity is too complex for summing up in one film like the Italians have in "Moonstruck" (itself probably the best film on your list in any case).
"In America" is poignant humor, childhood resiliency, and the mad yearnings of the suffocating urban soul. The lesson: how to love intensely and yet be able to let go. That's how life really is.
1. The Virgin Spring - No better film about rage and revenge has ever been made.
2. Fight Club - If you don't teach boys what it means to be a man, then they will create their own meaning - for good or ill.
3. Cries and Whispers - Virgil wrote "There are things for which we shed tears and our mortality cuts to the bone". This movie visualizes that thought.
4. The Man who shot Liberty Valance - How mythmaking happens.
5. The Godfather 1 and 2 - What we owe to family and tradition can conflict with what is right and what we owe society.
I like the Big Night selection. My picks:
1. Casablanca - The value of sacrificing personal happiness for a higher cause.
2. Empire Records - No one will accuse this of being one of the great films ever made but it was a sweet tale about the value of cultural (albeit youth culture) integrity. Rod mentioned these were films to recommend to young people - this one would resonate.
3. The Squid and the Whale - Horribly under-rated film about the pain of divorce and why family isn't something to be taken lightly.
4. Inherit the Wind (original) - Controversial pick on this blog but I'm making it anyway. There is a difference between superstition and faith. Plus Gene Kelly is magnificent as H.L. Mencken.
5. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room - If it looks to good to be true; it is.
6. All The Presidents Men/Good Night And Good Luck - Be leery of power, respect a free press.
7. Requiem for a Dream - Drugs are stupid.
8. Marty - The value of love.
9. Bang the Drum Slowly - The value of friendship.
10. Rushmore - Greatness must be authentic. Sic transit gloria.
Looks like this post is basically closed, but hey.
Couple thoughts: first of all, I didn't say I could veto, just thought I would. You know, stimulate discussion and all, back and forth discussion, and so on... but probably a bit harsh.
Liberally Bent, you made me laugh so hard that I may just read Chocolat because of it.
And yes, yes, yes to Shall We Dance and High Fidelity. It was, once again, John Simon that introduced me to Shall We Dance, and it is a perfect movie. High Fidelity is wonderful, although my wife would veto it because she felt the main character wasn't redeemable. The book does a better job of explaining his thought process (although High Fidelity broke the fourth wall more effectively than any other movie)
I did not have computer access over the weekend, but I can't resist the subject of this thread. By the way, I think "Babette's Feast" is a wonderful, life affirming movie that I resisted seeing because I thought it was going to be boring. In no particular order, here are my ideas:
1. My Left Foot. Because Daniel Day Lewis gives one of the great performances of all times, because this unsentimental view of an artist with cerebral palsy ends up being far more moving than any "cripple of the week" movie, and because it teaches the healing power of love and the pain of being underestimated.
2. The Inn of the Sixth Happiness - with Ingrid Bergman. This is another genuine tear-jerker, about a heroic woman of the British lower classes who becomes a missionary in China, and saves more than just souls. I don't want to give anything more away because that would be like giving away the ending of "It's a Wonderful Life."
3. The African Queen -- One of the greatest adventures ever filmed, and also a great love story and comedy of opposites attracting.
4. Stalag 17 - A spy has infiltrated the barracks in a Nazi prison camp full of American and allied soldiers. Who is it? Is it the scrounger, played by William Holden, whose success and selfishness makes everyone hate him? I love Billy Wilder, and I love this movie that speaks so deeply about human nature.
5. Casablanca - The greatest Hollywood movie ever made. One of the funniest scripts ever, indelible performances by Bogart, Bergman and Claude Rains, Dooley Wilson singing "As Time Goes By." There's no human being alive who wouldn't be improved by this movie.
6. It's a Wonderful Life - for all the reasons everyone else says. I can't watch this movie anymore because I've seen it too many times. But I can get weepy just thinking about the wonderful message, Capra's amazing direction, and Jimmy Stewart's brilliant performance.
7. Face to Face - this is an Ingmar (not Ingrid) Bergman movie, starring Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson. Currently, I don't believe this is available on DVD, but I hope it will be some day. This is for older teens (maybe not even then) because it deals with themes such as suicide, rape, and a nervous breakdown. I was deeply moved, because I felt it was the story of one person being Christ to another.
8. The Hunchback of Notre Dame - with Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara. One of the most stirring movies ever made, and not in the least Disneyfied. Corruption in high places (including the priesthood), temptation, impossible love, self-sacrifice -- this film teaches compassion for society's outcasts and thus should be part of everyone's cinema vocabulary.
9. Elmer Gantry - With Burt Lancaster in perhaps his most brilliant performance as a huckster preacher - a con artist with a heart and Jean Simmons as a character based on Aimee Semple McPherson. I love this movie because it is so nuanced. The villain (Lancaster) also happens to be a good man.
10. The Quiet Man - One of the great stories and love stories of all times, about a man seeking healing in "the old country" (Ireland) and finding it in the form of a wife who is stubborn about receiving her inheritance, and a brother-in-law, played by Victor McLaglen, who heals with his fists. John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara are simply perfect in a movie about the healing power of "the old ways."
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